Meet Dr. Hustak

Dr. Hustak was born on an Apache Indian Reservation in Whiteriver, Arizona. Her mother worked as a surgical first assist for an aesthetic plastic surgeon, and Dr. Hustak, at age 14, eagerly watched her first surgery. This sparked her passion for the field.

Dr. Hustak’s training started in Ohio where she lived for 8 years. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with Distinction in Medical Technology from The Ohio State University in 2004. She subsequently enrolled in medical school and completed a medical mission in Trujillo, Peru, where she expanded her international surgical interests. After graduating Magna Cum Laude from The Ohio State University College of Medicine in 2008, Dr. Hustak married her best friend and classmate, Dr. Erik Hustak, and settled in Texas.

For 6 years, Dr. Hustak completed a highly competitive integrated plastic surgery program at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, Texas. She currently holds appointments at several Houston hospitals, including several through the Memorial Hermann System and St. Joseph Medical Center.

Dr. Hustak’s commitment to excellence in the field of plastic surgery is evident. She is an active clinical faculty member in plastic surgery and trains residents from several local academic medical centers in the Houston area as they learn both cosmetic and reconstructive principles. She also serves as a faculty member in the physician healing track at the University Texas Medical Branch, mentoring medical students in the development of their professional identity as doctors and healers.

She is an Assistant Program Director for the Aesthetic Center for Plastic Surgery Aesthetic Fellowship that started in 2016. She is a local authority and national speaker on female genital rejuvenation. She is sought after to share her expertise as an invited speaker for local and national conferences. She has developed several innovative techniques in the field and continues to write and publish, along with her ACPS colleagues, on ways in which to make procedures better and safer for patients.

Dr. Hustak is a loving wife and mother. Her husband is an academic anesthesiologist, specializing in cancer pain management. Together they have three beautiful children who enrich their lives daily.

“Dr. Hustak is committed to utilizing her talents to rejuvenate your body and restore form and function, while refreshing your soul through the art of plastic surgery”

National Speaker, Local Authority, Innovator

Entrusting your aesthetic surgery to a Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon ensures that your care is being delivered by someone who has undergone the most rigorous certification and training process for plastic and reconstructive surgeons in the nation. This is vastly different than “cosmetic surgeons” because their certification IS NOT recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties and their training is markedly suboptimal and truncated. To become and maintain certification in plastic surgery, outcomes and safety are tracked continuously and indefinitely and ethics is weighed heavily in ones certification. These are not tenants of “cosmetic surgeons” where there is no collective tracking and rigorous monitoring of those they certify.

In fact, “cosmetic surgeons” do not need to be surgeons at all to enroll in the months of cosmetic training versus the 3-6 years of combined or integrated plastic surgery training, which means that cosmetic surgeons cannot be credentialed to admit or operate on cosmetic patients in an accredited hospital and can only operate in their own surgical center or office. This is a huge safety hazard should any complication arise. The news, unfortunately, is riddled with stories of such occurrences. Always ensure that your chosen surgeon is board eligible or board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery.

Similarly, our AAASF certified state of the art surgical center is operated by ONLY Board Certified Anesthesiologists, which we believe strongly is safer and more effective in delivering your anesthetic care than nurse anesthetists.

“We will not compromise on safety”

Dr. Hustak lecturing at the National American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Annual meeting

Besides national forums, Dr. Hustak is active in the local community, educating men and women about the changes their body makes in form and function and options for aesthetic and reconstructive improvement. She also trains providers on genital rejuvenation devices to develop standards of care in the community.

She is one of only a few in the greater Houston area who specializes in genital rejuvenation and perhaps the only one who emphasizes it to be a part of the “complete mommy makeover” conversation when patients present to clinic. She modified a technique for a novel procedure that has allowed her patients to have both labial reduction and vaginal tightening done under local anesthetic IN CLINIC, which obviates the need to go under general anesthesia. Most of her patients appreciate the less invasive approach and the freedom from IVs, tubes, and deep sedation that general surgery requires.

Wife, Mother, Women’s Health Advocate

Dr. Hustak on weekend rounds in the hospital with her “special helper” son

Dr. Hustak’s family photo while she was pregnant with her 3rd child

“You don’t find balance, you create it”

Drs. Erik and Kristi Hustak welcomed their last child, Hazel, in 2016, to complement her siblings Trenton and Tatum and complete their family. It is no secret in the medical field that surgical training is long and arduous and plastic surgeons often train longer than any of their medical or surgical colleagues. This is necessary to be proficient in reconstruction and aesthetics on nearly every aspect of the human body. Drs. Hustak and Hustak embraced the challenges of over a decade of training layered with the chaos of raising their first two young children simultaneously.

For the grace, humility, and aptitude in which Dr. Hustak practiced, she was awarded the UTMB Plastic Surgery Resident of the Year, UTMB Outstanding Leadership Award, Golden Scalpel Outstanding Surgical Resident Award, and UTMB Overall Resident of the Year nominee.

Dr. Hustak operating the day before she went into labor with her third child

Dr. Hustak is passionate about Women’s Health. Since 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, early diagnosis and treatment are key. Raising awareness on reconstructive breast options goes in tandem with breast cancer detection, as only an estimated 23% of women diagnosed with breast cancer ever meet with a plastic surgeon or know that reconstruction immediately or delayed is an option. Dr. Hustak hopes to improve these statistics through advocacy.

Female genital rejuvenation, a once taboo topic, is also an area of interest for Dr. Hustak. This goes far beyond aesthetic labiaplasties and gets to the core of symptomatic control of our bodies through the changes of life including early menstruation, sexual identity, childbirth, and pre and post-menopausal care. Dr. Hustak welcomes frank dialogue and strives for an inviting and comfortable environment to discuss concerns and seek care.

“Advocacy, education, and passion are core tenets of medical professionals, and I embrace them whole-heartedly”

Dr. Hustak and her ACPS team at the D’Feet Breast Cancer Awareness walk